What Makes You Put Down a Book?

That's interesting! I try to finish most books. But if I just can't, then I set it down and try to come back to it at a later point. Sometimes timing is just off and its not what I want to read at that point, but might be perfect later on.

I used to read every single book I started, until a teacher told me that "life is too short to read a bad book. Put it down, and move on." I never forced myself to finish a book after that.

My own personal most abandoned classic is The Sound and the Fury. I tried to read it several times. I would come back to it, perhaps get a bit further and then abandon it. It always made me sad as I love Faulkner's short stories. I eventually gave up and donated the book to the library.

I usually try to finish everything, no matter how much I dislike it. However, I recently came very, very, very close to abandoning Kate Atkinson's "Life After Life". Not only did the story move at a snail's pace, it was 520+ pages long. Reading the entire thing was a huge chore. To be honest, I'm sorry I stuck with it. Too much time wasted for not enough payoff.

Gladys wrote: "Very interesting. I abandoned Eat, Love, Pray. Maybe someday I will finish it because as a rule, I don't leave books halfway. I hoped to see the devil wears prada."

Yess! I also wanted to see devil wears prada in the list. Abandoned it twice.!

I had no trouble finishing Eat Pray Love or The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo. I finished 50 Shades of Grey but got half way through the second before I gave the set I bought to a cousin. I just found it to be a long, drawn out Harlequin with dirtier sex. The other books I tried but just could NOT get into at all so yes, Casual Vacancy and Wicked were abandoned.

In high school, my Biology teacher told me "if a book doesn't capture my interest in the first 50 pages, I put it down and go on to the next book." Ever after, that has been my rule! If the author can't make me "care" about the characters in 50 pages, I won't finish the book -- e.g. Jonathan Franzen's "The Corrections." Who cares?

I've abandoned Eat, Pray, Love (absolute apathy for the character/author) and 50 Shades of Gray (out of embarrassment/bad writing and editing). I also abandoned the Lord of the Rings series because, to me, it was boring. I look forward to abandoning Atlas Shrugged.
I don't have time for bad books. I give them 50 pages or so. When I abandon a book more than halfway through, it is with angry regret that I gave it so much time.

I put down The Wedding Machine by Beth Webb Hart. I usually will pick up a book that I put down and reread it with fresh eyes. I loved Moon Over Edisto by Beth Webb Hart. Too much going on in The Wedding Machine ..... too many people and drama in their lives to follow. UUGGHH!!!!!!!!

gabiiescobar wrote: "I used to read every single book I started, until a teacher told me that "life is too short to read a bad book. Put it down, and move on." I never forced myself to finish a book after that."


Good advice!! I should remember that when i just really don't like a book! Like I said above, I try to finish them at some point, but there are definitely times that I don't finish it and just get rid of the book.

I eventually try to finish books, eventually. Wicked took me a few months, but I finished it and even went on to read the other books in the series. I think I've only abandoned one book because it was so poorly written and the author though he was a gift to literature.

I also put down Eat, Pray Love and Casual Vacancies. I also abandoned East of Eden, The Corrections, and I Am Charlotte Simmons.

I'm having that problem with The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo right now. I'm on page 59 and am just forcing myself to keep on. It must get better at some point. I've read a lot of great books that were really slow and boring the first 50 pages, so I always try to push past that point. But if they haven't grabbed me by page 75 or so, then I'm done.

Interesting. I finished 3 of the top 5 Abandoned. Never started the other 2..yet. Finished 2 of the 5 Abandoned Classics. Never started the other 3...yet. And I enjoyed all of the ones I've read. hmmm.

This is an interesting study! I usually try to finish every book I pick up. I find that audiobooks help me with some of the ones that I'm not getting into. Maybe it's just by the readers voice or the character voices - dunno - listen to a lot of books now more than read! Sometimes though, there is still one that comes along that gets deleted from the playlist!

Aiza wrote: "Gladys wrote: "Very interesting. I abandoned Eat, Love, Pray. Maybe someday I will finish it because as a rule, I don't leave books halfway. I hoped to see the devil wears prada."

Yess! I also wan..."

I read it but it reminded me of a former boss so i had panic attacks the whole way thru.... im not afraid to abandon books anymore! lol

I may be the only one but I hated The Kite Runner, boring, boring

There are just way too many books I want to read to waste my time on an awful book I've picked up. If it's awful, I won't read it til the end. There are better books out there that deserve the time.

There were only a handful of books that I have abandoned. One of them was the Girl with a Dragon Tattoo - albeit the fact that my boss brought it to me and told me that it's a great book, I never really got into it and then, after watching the movie (and not liking all the violence in it, not to mention porn stuff), I figured that I would rather read other books.

Another book, The Jesus You Can't Ignore, was simply boring because the author, John MacArthur, just ranted on and on about how he hates everything post-modern and whatnot. I don't really care for stuff like that. Especially when he wasn't logical at all and contradicted himself and the Bible.

Very interesting. I started all five of them and put all five of them down. I did end up going back and finishing Fifty (really bad, but I read the whole series ugh!), Dragon Tatoo (ended up reading the whole series and really liked it), Eat, Pray Love (it was o.k.) and I really liked Casual Vacancy.

Interesting, but with so many great books out there and "so little time" as the saying goes, why force yourself to finish a book you don't like? Not me -- I move on if the first few pages don't have me hooked.

This is cool! I actually really liked Wicked. Reminded me of Paradise Lost which I love. I've only stopped reading one book (that's not on here) because I thought it was poorly written. I just ignore bad books *cough cough Twilight*

Jodi wrote: "I usually try to finish everything, no matter how much I dislike it. However, I recently came very, very, very close to abandoning Kate Atkinson's "Life After Life". Not only did the story move at..."

I agree. I don't see what all of the raves are about. I finished it, but not sure if I got it???

gabiiescobar wrote: "I used to read every single book I started, until a teacher told me that "life is too short to read a bad book. Put it down, and move on." I never forced myself to finish a book after that."

Very good advice. As a person who feels I HAVE to finish things, I have wasted much time reading books that I only finish because I feel I have too! I'm going to try to remember this int he future.

i try to finish books, but sometimes that is just not the book for you

Not surprised Casual Vacancy is on the abandoned book list. Unadulterated rubbish (IMHO).

gabiiescobar wrote: "I used to read every single book I started, until a teacher told me that "life is too short to read a bad book. Put it down, and move on." I never forced myself to finish a book after that."

Yeah, that's the rule I try to follow too.

The only one I have read was 50 Shades....was bored by about a third in but made myself finish it just in case it got better. It didn't.

I end up abandoning more books than I finish. Don't know if it's me or if it's just that there are so many unreadable books.

The only book I've abandoned - so far - was 'The English Patient'. I almost abandoned 'Lonesome Dove', but I managed to stick it out 'til I hit the magic 100 page mark... then, when I was done, I was sorry there weren't another 1000 pages or so. Unfortunately, the books that McMurtry later wrote to make those extra 1000 I wanted didn't capture my interest at all.

I absolutely agree that life is too short to finish a bad book! I usually give up after a chapter or two, but I once got halfway through a long novel by one of my favorite authors before I realized that I didn't like the book or the characters. I have to say that I've heard enough about "Eat, Pray, Love" and "50 Shades of Gray" that I am sure I will never abandon them simply because I will never start them! BTW, is there a way to abandon a book on Goodreads without having it appear as finished or currently reading?

Life is indeed too short to read a book that you do not like. There are thousands and thousands of books out there. Why waste time on one that you are not enjoying? I have a list on Goodreads with the books I started, but could not finish. It is not a long list, but I have no qualms about abandoning a book after giving it 50 pages or so. There are a couple I have abandoned after five pages!

Even if I find the book I'm reading *cough*A Discovery of Witches*cough* is the dullest, most arduous and terrible book I've read in a long while, I still make myself finish it. Even if that means skim-reading and/or skipping to the final chapter.
At least then I feel it hasn't defeated me!

Naked Lunch by William S. Burroughs. I had heard his work praised as genius; but a few pages into that book proved to be nothing more than drug-induced nonsense. Chariots of the Gods by Erich Von Daniken. An interesting (even if outrageous) hypothesis proposed as a without-a-doubt conclusion by the author who won't even consider other possibilities.

Christy wrote: "I had no trouble finishing Eat Pray Love or The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo. I finished 50 Shades of Grey but got half way through the second before I gave the set I bought to a cousin. I just fo..."

I abandoned The Corrections, also!

Yep - left Eat Pray Love on the floor. Never finished Moby Dick or the Lord of the Rings trilogy. Finished Catch-22 but had to force myself. Most of the time, if I'm going to abandon a book, it's pretty early on. If the story doesn't grab me or the writing doesn't hook me - I have plenty of other books waiting for me. I have never been able to finish Ian McEwan - he writes beautifully - but I cannot stand his characters. There is not one redeeming thing about them for me. So regardless of how many book awards he gets or how many people tell me I should read him...I just have a bias now and I may never get past it.

Could Goodreads create a button or star type thing for abandoned books? I just created a list for when I give up on a book. It cracks me up when I get recommendations based on that shelf.

It takes an awful lot to make me put a book down; I am a compulsive plate-cleaner because I have to find out WHAT HAPPENS. At a minimum, I trust the author to have a good sense of Story, even if he/she writes poorly. But egregiously bad writing (John Grisham's "A Time to Kill" is the one that pops to mind) will turn me off within five pages. Fortunately, this is rare. I can almost always find something worthwhile in a book --even if it's only How Not to Write a Book.

Love it - great infographic. I'm embarrassed to say I think I abandon more than I finish. I think the Kindle makes it easier to do that because I can just take it off my Kindle and pretend it doesn't exist!

Life is to short to read bad books

I read 4 of them. 50 Shades and Wicked I hated. Eat Pray Love and Dragon Tattoo were just okay. I have no interest in a Casual Vacancy because I don't even like the Harry Potter books.

I am so glad to know I'm not the only one who abandons a book within the first few chapters if it doesn't grab me. I used to read to the end if I started it. With so many books on my list and not enough time, I don't like to waster my reading time on something I'm not going to like.

There are too many amazing books out there to stick with ones you don't love. I abandoned Eat Pray Love, too, but I did listen to it in the car, and it was a completely different experience. It was like a friend describing her vacation; she was not as whiny and self-absorbed on tape.

Books are like food - sometimes I just want something quick and nibbly, like a naughty-but-nice thriller or an entertaining, but forgettable romance and other times I want a feast to savour, which will stay in my memory forever because it's characters/ingredients were so perfectly made. Sometimes the feast exceeds my current appetite so I put it aside and plan to have it for left-overs another day. Cervantes' Decameron is a feast I haven't quite finished tasting, having started it about 10 years ago. But I will finish it by the time I am 70 for sure!

I agree with "Deb" (above). How about a page/list for "Books I DIDN'T put down but should have"?

I've will stick out just about every book I start, even if it becomes a chore. Sometimes I'll put it down and go back to it, some times I push to finish it on the first go. So far there has only been one book I have completely given up on and I have no plans to return to it or anything by the same author... And that was Wicked. I forced myself to read his What the Dickens book and it was terrible. When I saw the same issues with Wicked I wasn't having it. His concepts are great... His writing is terrible!

Gail wrote: "I also put down Eat, Pray Love and Casual Vacancies. I also abandoned East of Eden, The Corrections, and I Am Charlotte Simmons."

Gail wrote: "I also put down Eat, Pray Love and Casual Vacancies. I also abandoned East of Eden, The Corrections, and I Am Charlotte Simmons."

Gladys wrote: "Very interesting. I abandoned Eat, Love, Pray. Maybe someday I will finish it because as a rule, I don't leave books halfway. I hoped to see the devil wears prada."

Gladys wrote: "Very interesting. I abandoned Eat, Love, Pray. Maybe someday I will finish it because as a rule, I don't leave books halfway. I hoped to see the devil wears prada."

I read The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo and liked it so much I bought a e-reader so I could get the other books quickly. wish there were more in that series

Actually, it is catch 22, not finishing a book.

Oliver Twist, abandoned even though I was like 60 pages from finishing; I literally stopped caring about the characters or what would happen in the end. I'm not a fan of the other Dickens works I've read, either.

The Pale King because how could anyone get through that?

Neuromancer, found it wasnt really clicking with me.

I could not finish the 8th David Weber Honor Harrington book because he kept rambling on about the political views of characters I did not care about. When you turn a good 500 page book into an awful 800+ page book you should be ashamed. I suspect he killed his editor!
George R.R. Martin killed off all my favourite characters by the 2nd game of thrones book. Plus he used foreshadowing like a 1930s hack trying to be the next Steinbeck. Yuck but I was so in love with Wild Cards I was sure I would like it, WRONG.
C.J.Cherryh wrote Downbelow Station which may be the only book she wrote I cannot finish. If you have insomnia it'll cure it though. Slow and boring.
Anything by Robert Ludlum or Tom Clancy after they stopped writing. Ludlum died, not sure about Clancy? But the Ghosts taking up their series are terrible.